ABSTRACT
An experiment was carried out to evaluate the dynamics of the natural regeneration settled down in the skid trails and the influence of the slope and the traffic intensity on them, comparing three and five years after logging. The forest belongs to Selva Paranaense, type of forest in the Yabotí Biosphere Reserve, and in the Guarani Reserve of the Misiones National University, in Misiones, Argentina. The harvesting was carried out in 1999, through the comparison of two methods: Reduced Impact Logging and Conventional Logging. Thirty two couples of plots of four squared meters settled were established in places with high slope (7% to 30%) and low slope (<7%) with two traffic intensities in each one of them (skid trails) and not trafficked area (below canopy). All the bigger individuals were considered to 30 centimeters high and smaller to 10 centimeters of D.B.H. All parameters were calculated for the years 2002 and 2004. It was raised a total of 20547 seedlings by hectare where 61% were registered under canopy. The abundance in the skid trails was statistically lower in the first mensuration (n = 32; t = 31.0; p = 0.00067). The biggest increments in height were given in the skid trails. The biggest mean diametric increases were registered in the skid trails in places with slope. The diversity was bigger in places without slope. The similarity among some plots diminishes in places with slope and in higher traffic intensities.
Keyword:
natural regeneration; logging; skid trails; succession